1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the use of disk drives in computer systems, and more particularly to a graphical display icon which is used to communicate information on the location and activity or error status of disk drives in the system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer systems are becoming increasingly large and complex and hence require increasing amounts of data storage capability. Computer systems are also being called upon to perform increasingly difficult tasks which require large amounts of data storage. This is particularly true of computer systems that serve as file servers in local area networks (LAN's). Additionally, computer systems are being called upon to perform critical tasks which require a high degree of data integrity and reliability. Therefore, a major area of growth in the computer industry has been to provide larger and more reliability data storage capabilities for computer systems.
Computer systems that require large amounts of data storage may include several drive bays or drive chambers comprising a plurality of disk drives. A common problem that may occur among disk drives is overheating of a drive, which may cause failure of the drive and loss of data. In addition, many different types of error conditions generally occur which may cause a particular disk drive to fail. In current computer systems, an operator generally must read a diagnostic file prepared by the operating system to determine if a particular logical volume has failed or has encountered an error condition. The operator must then correlate the logical volume with the physical disk drive and then determine the physical location of the drive to effect problem resolution. This multiple correlation is difficult and time consuming and can be almost impossible if the proper records cannot be found. Therefore, it is desirable to have an apparatus which informs an operator of the status of each of the disk drives in the system so that the operator is immediately notified of a failed disk drive or a disk drive which has encountered an error condition.